Michelle Obama has opened a new Twitter account but her husband seemed to be
well down the list of people whose thoughts she was interested in.

The first 15 people or organisations Mrs Obama chose to follow included feeds from all the branches of the US military, the Coast Guard, the Department of Education, and the Partnership for a Healthier America, of which she is honorary chairwoman.

She also quickly followed tweets from the White House and the office of Vice President Joe Biden.

But there was no immediate sign of President Barack Obama's Twitter feed, which has 25 million followers around the world, in the list of those being followed by Mrs Obama.

By contrast, the president immediately began following his wife's new account.

Mrs Obama's Twitter was set up by her office and given the handle @FLOTUS, standing for First Lady of the United States.

It opened with a tweet from staff asking people to wish the First Lady a happy 49th birthday. Within 30 minutes she had 5,000 followers.

Mrs Obama previously had a Twitter account under @MichelleObama which was run by the Obama campaign during the election.

The account had 2.6 million followers but Mrs Obama stopped placing personal posts on it in November.

The eight people she followed on that account did include her husband.

It was not clear whether those she is following on her new account were chosen personally, or whether the omission of the president in the initial list of those she followed was an oversight by her office.